By way of example, a batt as herein contemplated frequently equals and at times exceeds 5 inches in thickness; from 20 to 50 of such batts being normally compressed to fit within a bag measuring perhaps 15 inches in the corresponding dimension. It is well known in the art to stack such batts in groups or columns which are then compressed and, while held compressed, are pushed into a bag whose mouth is held open by a spout through which the batts enter the bag. Generally similar techniques and equipment for carrying out these procedures are disclosed in VACHON, Can. Pat. No. 952,495; in CONNER et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,874,281; in SPAULDING U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,155 in O'BRIEN U.S. Pat. No. 3,908,539 as well as in others of less relevance. Each of these disclosures described a construction in which the batts are generally transported down a chute on a platen, being then delivered into a compression chamber at the bottom of the chute and the platen being withdrawn sideways from the bottom of the chute and being returned, thereafter, to the top of the chute which it re-enters and down which it travels again to compress the batts in the compression chamber which are then ejected into bags as aforesaid.
In each of the disclosures aforesaid a preselected number of batts are stacked in columnar order, compressed, and bagged while under compression. Batts are sequentially delivered to stacking apparatus by means of a conveyor arranged preferably, to accomodate the output of batt producing equipment which, together with the conveyor and the compressing apparatus, thus form an operative chain and, for greatest efficiency, should therefore operate continuously in timed relation to each other at their respective capacities in order to avoid pile-ups along the line.
Normally, such consistency and continuity would be quite feasible if all other relevant factors remain constant and if each link in the chain operated reliably and uniformly without failure.